“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

I had been working on memorizing this passage of Philippians in Spanish because it has been such a special promise God has given me (in English) over the years. There were a lot of things going on and I had been worrying about a few of them so it was a little ironic when I was memorizing one day and I got to thinking about what I was saying in Spanish… It was like the Lord woke me up and said don’t be worrying, let me know your petitions, pray to me and then let me work out the details.

The Psalmist says it well.
“Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you;
He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.” Psalms 55:22

At this time I’m still not sure where the Lord will be sending me after I get done here. For those who don’t know, a friend (Anderson [that’s his first name]) I made during my time in RGBI invited me join him at his house in Colombia for the winter break! The Lord opened up all the doors and provided for all my needs to be able to come down so accepted the offer of Anderson’s family to spend five weeks with them after I graduated from the language program at RGBI. Lord willing I will be returning back home to Kansas the 13th of January.

I would like to know what lies ahead beyond that point but at this time the Lord hasn’t reveled that to me. Another promise the Lord has given to me over the years is in Jeremiah.

“‘”For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”‘” Jeremiah 29:11

The Lord is faithful and I am thankful for every opportunity He has given to me. In the past the Lord has always been faithful to reveal to me the next step in His perfect time and I know He will again. I am still learning that my relationship with the Lord is a daily walk, day by day following His leading in faith and it’s not necessary for me to know all of the future.

I can say that this past year has been a very big blessing in my life. Being able to meet so many brothers and sisters in Christ from all over Central and South America, learn how to communicate sufficiently in another language to listen, share and pray with these new friends, learning more about their culture and actually being able to experience part of their culture are all amazing gifts from the Lord.

Sorry it has taken me so long to get this update written and hope that I can do better at keeping in touch with you all. Here are just a few brief highlights from the past few months. A big thanks to my mom who helped fill in the gap a few months ago when she wrote an update for me!

The Lord helped my last semester feel a little more comfortable for me even though many times part of the language study felt way over my head. It was a blessing to get to know my language school classmates a little better along with the above mentioned friends from the Bible Institute side of RGBI. I hope we can keep in contact Lord willing.

While I still have a lot more to learn as far as the Spanish language goes it is a blessing be able to communicate with others in another language and the Lord blessed me with the additional blessing of having graduated from the language school program December 8th.

Uncle Dan, Aunt Donna and Danny were huge blessing in my life during my time at RGBI. I big thank you to them for their help, encouragement and support during my time there. An additional blessing was being able to celebrate Uncle Dan and Aunt Donna’s birthdays with them for the first time in my life as far as I can remember!

For the first time in my life I am visiting Colombia and living with a wonderful family who opened their doors to a stranger who only knew their son for two semesters in RGBI. They have been very accommodating, kind and generous hosts.

I have had the privilege of passing Christmas and New Years in a Latin American country for the first time so have been able to learn and observe things in a different culture. Also, it has been a blessing to pass some time on the small farm of Anderson’s grandpa during the holiday season.

We have done a small amount of street ministry to the homeless during my time here which was a blessing to actually see in real life what I had only seen in pictures before. I had expected to do more ministry related work during my time here but with the holidays several of the church ministries have been postponed until a little later this month.

It was hard to leave so many friends at RGBI and now I will soon be leaving a lot more new friends here in Colombia. I am thankful for every day the Lord has given me and hope that I can enjoy every moment and learn all that He has for me to learn during the remainder of my short time here.

I am praying the Lord will reveal His next step for me and am excited to see what He leads me to do next. Lord willing I will be spending a little time back home and it will sure be good to be with family for a bit!

May the Lord bless, guide and direct each one of you and your lives, giving you a greater understanding and knowledge of Him.

In Christ,

Mobile Farmer Joshua

(I still enjoy the farm and learning about the farms in other countries is a blessing too!)